Wednesday, February 16th 2011

Launched less than a year ago, Leandra Medine’s The Man Repeller blog has already managed to catch the eye of some of the biggest names in fashion. All this week, Leandra will be blogging for Shopbop from NYFW.

If New York Fashion Week has taught me anything, it’s that man repelling will always be in style. Fashion will always be about tailoring the collections to fit the preferred aesthetic of a strong woman, and thus, we may stay single. Forever. No fear, though. With abundant offerings from Jen Kao, Karen Walker, Tibi, and Marc by Marc Jacobs, you’ll have that void filled in no time.

Let’s discuss, starting with Jen Kao.

With the metallic nature of the Austin Powers in Gold Member maxi dress next to what looks like a velvet cape directly out of Harry Potter fashion week, we’re prone to speculate Jen Kao may have taken a bit of cinematic inspiration in designing her collection.

At Karen Walker, lentils were worn as hats. Just kidding, those are beanies. But I’m onto something, aren’t I? In any case, leather accents continued to rule in a more feminine and flimsy manner while combining one of fall’s biggest emerging trends: bright color, in orange no less. Conversely, there was still a bit of menswear and print mixing thrown into the collection, with button ups and pants leaving little interest to the male eye.

Ruffled necklines and beautiful shades of red starred in Tibi’s runway show, where a bright red onesie stole my heart, and a kick back to the ’50s refilled the aforementioned void, literally and figuratively.

And finally…

Here I write a love letter to Marc by Marc Jacobs and his radical flashback to the ’70s in all its glam glory. The show provided many a male-deterring opportunity. Cue the duty-length silk skirt, printed in the official colors of the man repelling tribe (leopard print) and the full corduroy-on-corduroy pantsuit. I remember a time when Sex and the City’s Miranda Hobbes reprimand poor old Steve Brady for opting to wear head-to-toe corduroy. Who would have thought we’d be emulating that look several years later?

I did, actually. Steve’s got style! In any case, we’ve only got one more day of shows to go, and it must be said: I’m going to miss talking with you via Shopbop.